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Quiz about The Tragic Life of Woody Guthrie
Quiz about The Tragic Life of Woody Guthrie

The Tragic Life of Woody Guthrie Quiz


This quiz delves into the life of the famous folk singer and rambler Woody Guthrie.

A multiple-choice quiz by skylarb. Estimated time: 4 mins.
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Author
skylarb
Time
4 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
409,676
Updated
Jul 10 22
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
8 / 10
Plays
144
Awards
Top 5% quiz!
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Question 1 of 10
1. A visit to the Woody Guthrie center inspired this quiz. The Woody Guthrie center is located in Woody's home state, in what city? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Woody Guthrie was named after Woodrow Wilson who, at the time of Woody's birth in July of 1912, held what position? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. Woody married his first wife, Marry Jennings, at the tender age of 19. A few years later, he left her and his three children to flee, along with thousands of other "dust bowl refugees," to what state? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. Woody Guthrie wrote over one hundred songs on Jewish themes, sometimes in collaboration with his mother-in-law, a Yiddish poet. What was her name? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. Woody experienced several tragic fires in his life. Which was NOT one of them? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Woody Guthrie's father reportedly participated in the lynching of Laura and L.D. Nelson, which prompted Woody Guthrie to eventually write what song? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. What happened to Woody Guthrie's eighth child, Lorina Lynn? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. Woody Guthrie's politics most nearly aligned with which of the following? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. What nineteen-year-old folk musician went to visit an ailing Woody Guthrie and sang to his idol his own original composition "Song to Woody," which later appeared on his debut album? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. Woody Guthrie finally succumbed to Huntington's disease in 1967, in what city, where a tribute concert was later held for him in Carnegie Hall? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. A visit to the Woody Guthrie center inspired this quiz. The Woody Guthrie center is located in Woody's home state, in what city?

Answer: Tulsa

Woody Guthrie was born in Okemah, Oklahoma in 1912. His father later moved to Pampa, Texas, and eventually sent for Woody to join him there. Woody later travelled around the country. The Woody Guthrie center opened in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2013 and serves as a museum and archive with numerous interactive exhibits.
2. Woody Guthrie was named after Woodrow Wilson who, at the time of Woody's birth in July of 1912, held what position?

Answer: Governor of New Jersey

Woody's parents must have been impressed with the 1912 Democratic nominee for president, because they named Woody after him before the man was even elected to the presidency. The Democratic primaries ended on June 4, 1912, and Woodrow Wilson, then the Governor of New Jersey, won his party's nomination with 44.6% of the vote.

He had not yet been elected president when Woodrow Wilson Guthrie was born on July 14, 1912, but later that year he became the 28th (not 25th) President of the United States.
3. Woody married his first wife, Marry Jennings, at the tender age of 19. A few years later, he left her and his three children to flee, along with thousands of other "dust bowl refugees," to what state?

Answer: California

Dust storms plagued Oklahoma during this era, and scores of native Oklahomans fled to California seeking work. In 1938, Woody left behind his wife and children Gwendolyn, Sue, and Bill. In Los Angeles, Woody worked at the KFVD radio station and wrote a column for "People's World." The couple eventually divorced in 1940. Both of Guthrie's daughters from his first marriage died of Huntington's disease (inherited from their father) when they were just 41, and his son died even younger, in his 20s, in an auto-train accident, along with Woody's first wife Mary.
4. Woody Guthrie wrote over one hundred songs on Jewish themes, sometimes in collaboration with his mother-in-law, a Yiddish poet. What was her name?

Answer: Aliza Greenblatt

Woody Guthrie's second wife was Marjorie Greenblatt, a dancer who went by the stage name of Marjorie Mazia. She and Woody had four children: Cathy, Arlo, Joady, and Nora. Woody Guthrie wrote a number of Jewish lyrics with Marjorie's mother Aliza Greenblatt, who was a Yiddish poet.

His daughter Nora created an annual multimedia presentation called "Holy Ground: Woody Guthrie's Yiddish Connection," which includes storytelling, writings, artwork, and music.
5. Woody experienced several tragic fires in his life. Which was NOT one of them?

Answer: He suffered third degree burns from a barn fire during a hootenanny

The first tragic fire was when his new house burned down during his toddlerhood, before they could even move into it. At another time, according to biographer Joe Klein, Woody's mother Nora insisted that Woody's sister Clara stay home from school to help with housework. In protest, Clara set her clothes on fire with the intention of scaring her mother and quickly putting out the flames, but she was unable to do so before much damage was done, and she died the next day from the burns.

More fires were to come. In 1927, according to Klein, Woody's mother Nora, plagued by a loss of mental control from Huntington's disease and upset with Charles Guthrie after several financial failures and relocations, set him on fire. Charley survived, and Nora was put into an insane asylum for the rest of her life. Years later, in 1947, Woody's own daughter Cathy died in an apartment fire caused by faulty electrical wiring.
6. Woody Guthrie's father reportedly participated in the lynching of Laura and L.D. Nelson, which prompted Woody Guthrie to eventually write what song?

Answer: Don't Kill My Baby and Son

Charles Guthrie became a member of the revived Ku Klux Klan beginning around 1915, and he had earlier, according to later reports by Woody Guthrie, participated in the 1911 lynching of two African-Americans, a mother and son, Laura and L. D. Nelson, who were snatched from their cells in county jail, where they were being held until trial under the charge of participating in the murder of an Okfuskee County deputy sheriff. Guthrie was horrified to learn of his father's reported participation in the lynching, and he wrote three songs about the event, including "Don't Kill My Baby and Son."
7. What happened to Woody Guthrie's eighth child, Lorina Lynn?

Answer: She was put up for adoption by her parents and died in a car crash as a teenager

Woody Guthrie married his third wife, Anneke Van Kirkand, in 1953, shortly after his divorce from Marjorie. They divorced a short time later, in 1954, and had one child, Lorina Lynn. After they divorced, Woody and Anneke allowed a couple they knew to adopt their daughter Lorina Lynn.

The girl later tragically died in a car crash in California in 1973, at the young age of 19. After her adoption, she had no further contact with Woody Guthrie.
8. Woody Guthrie's politics most nearly aligned with which of the following?

Answer: Communism

Although Guthrie never publicly declared himself a communist, he was a vocal admirer of Stalin and supported communist victory in the Korean War. He was anti-fascist, however, and had a guitar that read "This machine kills fascists." According to friends Gordon Friesen and Sis Cunningham, he was a member of the same Communist Party club as they were, and Pete Seeger confirmed this, though there is no record of Woody himself claiming to be a member. Woody Guthrie was on the FBI's Security Index into the 1960s.
9. What nineteen-year-old folk musician went to visit an ailing Woody Guthrie and sang to his idol his own original composition "Song to Woody," which later appeared on his debut album?

Answer: Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan was a great admirer of Woody Guthrie's and met him before he died. He played Woody's songs for him, as well as a song of his own he'd written in honor of the man. Dylan's "Song to Woody" appeared on his debut album "Bob Dylan" in 1962. In 2022, the Bob Dylan center opened in Tulsa, Oklahoma on the same street as the Woody Guthrie center.
10. Woody Guthrie finally succumbed to Huntington's disease in 1967, in what city, where a tribute concert was later held for him in Carnegie Hall?

Answer: New York

Woody Guthrie died at the age of 57, on October 3, 1967, in New York City. In 1968, Harold Leventhal produced "A Tribute to Woody Guthrie" at Carnegie Hall featuring musicians ranging from Bob Dylan and Judy Collins to Richie Havens, Odetta, and Pete Seeger.

In 1998, the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival (a.k.a. "WoodyFest") began to be held annually in his honor in July (the month of his birth).
Source: Author skylarb

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